Australian Open 2024: Bernard Tomic’s wildcard hopes, Nick Kyrgios injury news

Will the bad boys of Australian tennis – Bernard Tomic and Nick Kyrgios – be on deck for next year’s Open? Tournament organisers gave a frank update on Monday.

Controversial tennis star Bernard Tomic will have to earn his way into the Australian Open if he wants to push his career resurrection at his home grand slam after the tournament boss refused to guarantee him a qualifying wildcard.

Australian Open boss Craig Tiley stressed on Monday Tomic’s ranking would need to be “high enough” to be guaranteed a place in the qualifying draw with no assurance of a wildcard, despite a strong rankings rise this year.

Toiling away on the Challenger circuit, Tomic has gradually built his world ranking up to 287 after it fell to as low as 825 last year.

The 31-year-old last week reached the quarter finals of the Brasilia Challenger tournament, heightening the prospect of a potential return at Melbourne Park this summer.

Tomic was denied a qualifying wildcard last year, but Tiley said decisions on Open qualifying wildcards for this year’s tournament had not been finalised as yet.

If Bernard Tomic is to play in this year’s Australian Open – he’ll have to get there the hard way. Picture: Getty

While Tiley said Tomic’s relationship with Tennis Australia would not be a factor in determining wildcards, he said it would come down to whether he was “deserving” of one.

“It’s not so much about the relationship, but it’s about if they’re deserving,” Tiley said.

“The things we consider is; the form of the player coming in, it is a factor on looking at age in some instances because do you want to give the younger player an opportunity versus the journeyman who has been out there for a while.

“Then the other one is based on their form … what (are) their chances of winning because you want to put players or Aussies in the draw who will take advantage of the opportunity.

“We haven’t made those (wildcard) decisions in qualifying yet, we have made quite a few decisions on the main draw, which we will announce in the coming days.

“We always leave a few open as you know because it depends on what someone does leading into the event, so we will continue with that practice this year.”

Craig Tiley has cast some doubt on Bernard Tomic’s wildcard hopes. Picture: Getty

Tiley said he expected the cut for this year’s main Australian Open draw to be the strongest in history, which would then have a flow-on effect for qualifying.

“I think he (Tomic) is just around 300-something, so it will depend on the qualifying drop, we will know today on the main draw,” Tiley said.

“I am predicting the cut will be the strongest in the history, which means in the qualifying it is also going to be really tough to get in.

“It will be the strongest draw we’ve had based on where the cut is, primarily because we’ve got eight players that haven’t played in the last year or two that are now returning and they will return here in Australia.

“For Bernard to get in, the ranking needs to be high enough.”

Nick Kyrgios is also no certainty to feature at this year’s Australian Open. Picture: AFP

Uncertainty also surrounds the prospect of showman Nick Kyrgios’ making a return from knee injury at the Australian Open, which Tiley described as a “day by day” proposition.

“The Nick update is day by day with him,” Tiley said.

“He will be best to be able to assess that. We’re going to have Nick here in some form or another in January …hopefully it is to play because he is a crowd pleaser and we love watching Nick and we love having him around.”

Tiley said he had been in touch with Rafael Nadal after his announcement that he would kick off his comeback from a hip injury at the Brisbane International.

“I have been in contact with Rafa … he is healthy, he is practising well, he is playing like Rafa plays, he is going all-out,” Tiley said.

“It took a while to make the announcement only because he wanted to make sure he was going to be able to come and play, which he is and he will be here and he’ll start off in Brisbane.

“So really lucky for Brisbane, they get to see him first and then following Brisbane, he will be back here in Melbourne.”